Captain Mainwaring's wife takes centre stage in new Dad's Army film Friday 5 February 2016 at 10:05AM Captain Mainwaring’s wife speaks! For anyone who knows the Dad’s Army TV series, this fact alone will be enough to tell you that the movie version is marching to a very different tune. In the original series, Mrs Mainwaring is a recluse, a woman who "hasn’t left the house since Munich”, according to Captain Mainwaring. She is the perfect running gag, heard about but not seen, the beloved “little woman” at the heart of Mainwaring’s silly little universe. The movie version does away with all that comedy coyness, and puts Captain Mainwaring's wife on the front line. Elizabeth Mainwaring (played with blustering efficiency by Felicity Montagu) doesn’t just talk in the film: she is the one who wears the trousers, bossing her husband about in public and bringing the wives of Walmington-On-Sea under her wing. “Man and woman united in common cause,” Elizabeth trumpets proudly, as she marshals the ladies of the town into making bandages for the Home Guard.

“Whatever you say dear,” Captain Mainwaring replies bashfully. This bayonet charge for an equal marital footing inevitably takes the film a long way from the television original. For one thing, we see much more of the Home Guard’s home lives than we ever did in the TV series, and not just over at the Mainwarings. 'Uncle' Arthur Wilson is always seen at Private Pike's house, enticed by his Mum Mavis's 'roly poly' pudding. Corporal Jones is more than capable of ‘slipping a sausage’ to one of the women waiting for rations outside his butcher’s shop (apparently, there is life in the old dog yet). Then there is alluring journalist Rose Winters (played by Catherine Zeta Jones), whose tempting advances threaten to set off a full-blown mutiny in the ranks of Walmington's finest. And finally, the other women of the town have ideas of their own about who the German spy in their midst could be... Whether this wins over Dad's Army devotees remains to be see. The TV series, like every classic sitcom, is a delicate comedy habitat, where each character takes their place in the food chain of command.

Adding Mrs Mainwaring feels a bit like parachuting a rhinoceros on to the South Downs: brave, probably foolhardy, and bound to cause a kerfuffle with people who have always wondered what a rhino looked like without ever actually wanting to meet one. Then again, maybe this is the best way to translate an adored TV series for a new generation? After all, how much movie mileage is there in a bunch of old codgers stamping up and down a church hall? One thing's for sure, Mrs Mainwaring is mute no longer – and that's bound to set tongues wagging. You can read a full interview with the stars of Dad's Army – and get a free book about the show's history – in this week's Radio Times, available in shops and on the newsstand ... Mrs. Elizabeth Mainwaring | Dad's Army Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Edit Mrs Mainwaring was the daughter of the suffragan Bishop of Clegthorpe (a fictional see). She married George Mainwaring , son of an Eastbourne tailor, shortly after the First World War.

He had been stationed in France in 1919, the year after the war ended, and, as later became an issue on formal occasions, possessed no medals. They spent their honeymoon on a remote Scottish island where Mainwaring learnt to play the bagpipes because "there was nothing else to do". The couple lived at 23, Lime Crescent, Walmington-on-Sea, a fictional seaside resort in Kent with a pier and such other attractions as Stone's amusement arcade and a novelty rock emporium. Mrs Mainwaring's parents evidently looked down on their grammar school-educated son-in-law, even after he had become assistant manager, with a partitioned cubicle of his own, at the Walmington branch of Swallow Bank . In one episode Mainwaring tells Wilson that Elizabeth is only fond of silent movies because she was so shocked when she heard a character on a film speak a line (this was sometime in the late '20s) she did not go back to the cinema (she may have seen The Jazz Singer (1927), the first 'talkie' ever released).

According to Mainwaring, his wife had led a sheltered life ("she hadn't even tried tomato sauce before she met me".) One of her hobbies was making lampshades. The marriage was childless, although Mainwaring, who often referred to his wife as "the little woman" (in spite of the evidence both that she was actually quite large and that, of the two, she was clearly the domineering figure in the marriage), claimed, rather unconvincingly, that it had been "blissful". The Second World War Edit In 1940, in response to a radio broadcast by the Secretary for War Anthony Eden , her husband George (who by then was manager of the bank) set himself up as Captain of the local Home Guard (initially known as the Local Defence Volunteers). Mainwaring's various attempts to involve his wife in the extramural activities of the platoon usually came unstuck. On one occasion he arrived at a function with a black eye which had plainly been acquired during a domestic dispute. His excuse that he had struck his eye on the linen cupboard door was greeted by the cheerful remark of Private Walker "hasn't your old woman got a rolling pin then?".

Mainwaring usually comes up with some convoluted reason why his wife is not joining in the platoon's social functions. He once remarked that Mrs Mainwaring had not left the house "since Munich" (in 1938). Even so, much to her husband's horror (he fainted), she ended up playing the part of Lady Godiva Leofric (who, in the 11th century had, according to tradition, ridden naked through the streets of Coventry) during a carnival to raise money for Spitfire fighter planes. This was intended as a tribute to the city of Coventry which had suffered heavy German bombing in 1941, though the rather stuffy Mainwaring had tried to prevent the town clerk, vicar and others from assessing the merits of predominantly young candidates for the role who were dressed only in their bathing costumes. There were frequent misunderstandings involving Mrs Mainwaring. When Mainwaring was holding a small party at his house for a section of his platoon, Mrs Mainwaring was heard coming downstairs, but she went back again as soon as an air raid siren sounded. Mainwaring's calls for her to come down to say "hello" were ignored.

When he went upstairs to encourage her, the Chief ARP Warden Bert Hodges (played by Bill Pertwee and snobbishly dismissed by Mainwaring as "a greengrocer") arrived to complain that, contrary to blackout regulations, a light was showing in the house. On being told of Mainwaring's whereabouts, Hodges misconstrued his motives: "Oh, it's one of those sorts of parties". In another episode, Mainwaring obtained some cheese (a treat due to rationing) and telephoned his wife, a vegetarian, to say that he "might have a surprise for her tonight". Predictably, this suggestion was misunderstood and Mainwaring ended up sharing the cheese in his office with his urbane, long-suffering Sergeant, Arthur Wilson (John Le Mesurier). The closest anyone gets to seeing Elizabeth is when Mainwaring is sleeping on the bottom bunk in his Anderson Shelter. Elizabeth is above and the heavily sagging mattress gives a clue as to her figure. She is also heard groaning.

Mainwaring's "brief encounter" Edit That Mainwaring was starved of affection was well illustrated when, having established a women's section of the platoon, his took a fancy to one of his new recruits, the elegant Mrs Fiona Grey (Carmen Silvera), with whom, out of character it seemed, he embarked upon a platonic affair. After snatched meetings in the Marigold Tea Rooms and much gossip in Walmington, he and Mrs Grey eventually parted at the local railway station, despite Mainwaring's pleas for her to stay, in a scene reminiscent of the film Brief Encounter (1945). In A Soldier's Farewell , Mainwaring becomes attracted to a bus conductress, an when he has a dream in which he is Emperor Napoleon I of France, the bus conductress is also his mistress (Bonaparte's mistress). The writer Graham McCann has likened Mainwaring to Charles Pooter, the City clerk in George and Weedon Grossmith's novel, The Diary of a Nobody (1892) (of which Arthur Lowe made an audiobook recording), but with the essential difference that Mainwaring had no equivalent of Pooter's devoted wife Carrie.

When the hapless Private Frank Pike (Ian Lavender) broke a bottle containing Mrs Mainwaring's sleeping tablets and Mainwaring was advised that eating glass could mean "instant death", he replied, "Yes ... Just dust them over a bit". Post-war Edit According to scripts for It Sticks Out Half a Mile, a radio sequel to Dad's Army, prepared by Perry and Croft before Arthur Lowe's death in 1982, the Mainwarings spent two years immediately after the war in Switzerland (which had been neutral during the conflict), where Mainwaring supervised the manufacture of cuckoo clocks. They returned to Britain because the Swiss air did not suit Mrs Mainwaring's health and, in 1948, settled in Frambourne, a coastal resort near Walmington. It seems likely that the Mainwarings (assuming Mrs Mainwaring was still alive) subsequently moved back to Walmington where, in 1968, Alderman George Mainwaring (as he had become) was chairman of the town's I'm Backing Britain campaign (as seen in The Man and the Hour , 1968).

Dad's Army (2016) List of Characters | Dad's Army Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Edit Mainwaring (pronounced Man-er-ing) was played by Arthur Lowe . He was the pompous - if essentially brave and unerringly patriotic - local bank manager. In the series pilot Mainwaring appointed himself leader of his town's contingent of Local Defence Volunteers. Of the platoon , he and Joe Walker were the only adult members with no prior combat experience, and, therefore, had no medals - a fact which sometimes caused tension with the other members of the Home Guard . He did, however, serve in France, "during the whole of 1919—somebody had to clear up the mess." Although an ensemble piece, the series focused particularly upon Mainwaring, who has invested all his efforts into the platoon as a way of escaping from an unhappy marriage to Elizabeth, daughter of a Bishop, and a stalled career at the bank.

Edit Wilson, played by John Le Mesurier , was a diffident, upper-class bank clerk, Wilson was nonetheless Mainwaring's inferior in the bank and on parade; his suave, understated social superiority, public school education and handsome looks led to a certain amount of jealousy on Mainwaring's part. During World War 1 he fought in the Royal Artillery at Mons, Gallipoli and the Somme. In the last episode he revealed that he had been a Captain. Edit Jones was the oldest member of the platoon (born 1870), but was played by Clive Dunn , a younger actor. Jones was an old campaigner who had participated, as a boy soldier, in the campaign of Kitchener of Khartoum in the Sudan between 1896 and 1898, and also fought in World War 1. By 1940 he worked as the town butcher, which occasionally enabled him to supplement his superiors' meaty ration. Jones was leader of the platoon's first section. He has a story for every occasion, and will never hesitate in telling it, regardless of how long-winded or irrelevant it is.

Despite being the oldest member of the platoon, Jones demonstrates an almost boyish enthusiasm for combat and is the first to volunteer for anything, no matter how ill-advised that may be. In Battle of the Giants we learn Jones caught malaria whilst serving in Africa, he got over the main illness but sometimes (though not often) he gets malarial chills, he tells Mainwaring not to worry because he says "I've been getting these chills for 40 years". Jack Craig was David Croft's original first choice for the role, and David Jason, who later excelled at playing characters such as Blanco in "Porridge", was also linked to the role. Edit Walker was played by James Beck in the television series and seven episodes of the radio series, Graham Stark for five radio episodes with Larry Martyn for the remainder of the radio series. A Black Market "spiv"", Walker was the only fit, able-bodied man of military age in Walmington-on-Sea's home guard. His absence from the regular armed forces was due to a corned beef allergy, although it was implied that Walker had probably found a way to play the system.

Mainwaring often turned a blind eye to his profiteering as he could sometimes supply the platoon (and Mainwaring) with useful items. On more than one occasion, Walker's willingness to use underhand tactics allowed Mainwaring's platoon to triumph over rivals in the Home Guard, Army and ARP. He was disciplined several times by Captain Mainwaring for making jokes at inappropriate times. Though Beck was the second youngest regular cast member, he was the first to die. As a result, Walker was written out of the series after series 6. Edit The youngest platoon member - played by Ian Lavender - Pike, a cosseted mother's boy and often the target of Mainwaring's derision ("You stupid boy!"), was a junior bank clerk. He called Wilson "Uncle Arthur", and although never explicitly stated, it was often implied that Wilson and Pike's mother were having a relationship. It was also occasionally suggested that Wilson was Pike's father (although the writers only acknowledged this in interviews after the programme ended). He frequently threatens to set his mother on Mainwaring whenever he is shouted at or forced to do anything he doesn't want to do.

He has the lowest position at Swallow bank, subordinate to both Wilson and Mainwaring. Edit Frazer was played by John Laurie . The character was a dour Scottish coffin maker and a Chief Petty Officer in the Royal Navy who fought at the Battle of Jutland although his main duty was cooking), Frazer was tight with money, had wild staring eyes, and was known for issuing regular pronouncements of doom. In the early episodes Frazer was the keeper of a philately shop, but by series four the writers had decided that he should become the local undertaker, in keeping with his gloomy nature. Openly eager for more power within the platoon, he sometimes led rebellions against Manwaring and was the only member of the platoon to be portrayed as a villain in episodes such as " A Soldier's Farewell " & " The Two and a Half Feathers ", though for the most part he was loyal and well-intentioned. Edit Played by Arnold Ridley , Godfrey, whilst not as old as Jones, was certainly the most frail member of the platoon, and as such was the platoon's medical orderly.

He had served in World War One as a conscientious-objecting stretcher bearer, winning the Military Medal before becoming a tailor at the Army & Navel Stores. Godfrey was an amiable, vague, lifelong bachelor who lived with his sisters in an idyllic cottage, and was a martyr to his weak bladder, leading to many requests to be "excused". He was very loyal to Captain Mainwaring, except on one occasion when he took part in a plot to make Mainwaring's feet hurt. Non-platoon characters Edit The Vicar ( Frank Williams ) was the vicar of St. Aldhelm’s Church. To help the war effort, he shares his church hall and office with Mainwaring's platoon, much to his dismay because he never gets to use it when he needs it. Edit Mr. Maurice Yeatman ( Edward Sinclair ) was the local verger and head of the Seas Scouts group. Yeatman was often hostile to the platoon. Labelled a "troublemaker" by Jones, he is ridiculously loyal to the vicar, and his good friend Mr. Hodges.

Other Platoon members Edit In addition to the seven featured players, the platoon also included a "back row" of anonymous extras, who filled the platoon up to size while on parade or display. The extras did not speak, but there were a handful of platoon members who had a secondary but significant role:- Edit Private Thomas Bracewell ( John Ringham ) was an upper-class buffoon who was set to be a major character in the series. Due to the overwhelming number of major characters that were introduced, it was decided that he was to be dropped. He only appears in first episode of the programme, and was mentioned in the second episode. Ringham also appeared in 2 episodes as Captain Bailey. Edit Private Cheeseman ( Talfryn Thomas ) - originally a Welsh journalist who appeared in one episode in series six, after the death of James Beck he joined the platoon for series seven. David Croft writes that the character was "irritating without being funny", although it is also reported that John Laurie (Frazer), the show's resident Scot, was strongly against the character. The writers decided that Cheeseman should not return for series eight and nine.

A character called Charlie Cheeseman (played by Jimmy Perry ) appeared in the sixth episode, but he was unrelated. Edit Private George 'Nobby' Clarke ( John Cater ) - joined the platoon briefly when he tried to dig up dirt about Jones' history in the Sudan. He was revealed to have had an affair with his commanding officer's wife, and when this was revealed in Jones' retelling of events, he fled Walmington never to return. Other members of the platoon mentioned by name throughout the series are: Agnew; Bailey; Cullen-Jones; Day; Desmond; Elgood; Hancock; Hardcastle; Hastings; Hope; Locke; Lovekin; Macey; Meadows; Wiper; Woods. Recurring characters Edit Mrs. Yeatman ( Olive Mercer ) (series 5,8) - Beryl Yeatman was the Verger's wife, referred to in one episode by her husband as Tracey. She ran the women's keep fit club, and captained the womens' netball team. In Everybody's Trucking , it was revealed she was having an affair with Mr. Blewitt.

Edit Sidney Blewett ( Harold Bennett ) (series 3-9) - Mr Blewett was an elderly gentleman who recurred in a variety of roles, but always under the same name. During the series, he was seen as a photographer and the vicar's gardener, but often as a passer-by who became involved in the platoon's escapades. Edit Mrs. Marcia Fox ( Pamela Cundell ) (series 2-9) - Corporal Jones's lady friend and finally wife. Described as a "flashy woman" by Captain Mainwaring, her first name in the episode " Mum's Army " is revealed as Marcia, although this changes to "Mildred" by the final episode. However, she is mostly referred to as Mrs. Fox. In the early episodes she mentions her husband, but by series four she is a widow and is seen about with several men of the town in addition to Jones. In one episode, " The Godiva Affair " , Jones fears he has lost her affections to Mr.

Gordon, and, in " Everybody's Trucking ", Mrs Yeatman's discovery of the verger out for a spin on a motor-cycle with Mrs Fox provokes the revelation of her own liaison with Mr Blewitt. When, at Jones's prompting, Mainwaring raises the question of her apparently split affections between Jones and Gordon, Mrs Fox misunderstands his purpose and, to Mainwaring's horror, thinks that he is propositioning her himself. Edit The Mayor of Walmington ( Fred McNaughton ) - Walmington's highest public official. His appearances usually involve playing the straight man to his excitable Town Clerk. Once when watching a 'keep-fit' display, he responds to Mr Gordon's remark of "that's very nice" with a straight-laced "Yes, if you like that sort of thing". He also takes part, in full ceremonial dress, in a thrilling train-chase in the episode " The Royal Train ". There are allusions to a habit of making long-winded speeches.

Edit Shirley ( Wendy Richard ) (series 4-6) - Walker's recurring girlfriend appeared in 4 episodes, Shirley (although she is referred to as Edith Parish in " Mum's Army " and is credited the name of Edith Parish in her first appearance in the series 4 episode " The Two and a Half Feathers "), is a cinema usherette and was played up to be a bit of a 'tart'. In particular, she annoys Mainwaring by suggesting that he fancies her. Edit Dolly Godfrey ( Amy Dalby , later Joan Cooper ) Private Godfrey's younger sister. Renowned for the quality of her upside-down cakes & cucumber sandwiches. Like Mrs Mainwaring she rarely appears, but is constantly referred to by her brother. Joan Cooper, Arthur Lowe's real-life wife, also played Dolly in the stage adaptation of Dad's Army. Edit Cissy Godfrey Private Godfrey's other sister appeared in one episode of series 2 and 3 episodes of series 3 (1969), played by Nan Braunton . Braunton reprised the role in two episodes of the radio series, in which Cissy was Private Godfrey's only sister.

The role of Cissy was later taken over by Kathleen Saintsbury in an episode of the eighth television series, and by Joan Cooper (who had previously played Dolly Godfrey in the television series) in an episode of the third radio series. Edit Colonel Pritchard ( Robert Raglan ) (series 3-9) - The superior officer from whom Captain Mainwaring most frequently received his orders. A stern, serious man, he unexpectedly appeared to admire Mainwaring, frequently commenting on his successes and warning people not to underestimate him. Raglan also played Captain Square's sergeant in one episode. Edit Captain Square ( Geoffrey Lumsden ) (all series) - commander of the Eastgate platoon of the Home Guard and rival of Captain Mainwaring. In early episodes he was "Corporal-Colonel Square", being a Corporal in the Home Guard and a former Colonel in the Army. In episode three, he almost replaces Mainwaring due to having weapons, but these turn out to be very out-of-date. In " A Brush with the Law ", Square is seen in his other capacity as a magistrate and almost has the chance to send Mainwaring to prison.

Edit Captain Stewart ( Michael Knowles ) - A smarmy officer from the War Office who informs Mainwaring that his platoon have been picked for 'special duties' (which in fact means digging latrines and peeling potatoes). One of several similar characters portrayed in the series by Michael Knowles. Edit Captain Ramsey ( Fulton Mackey ) - A harsh but fair Scottish officer who runs a training course to test Home Guard units and assess whether they are 12-star material. His attempts to make the weekend a serious test of the men are frustrated (largely by the idiocy of Lance-Corporal Jones and a stray consignment of onions) and he quickly becomes exasperated. Ramsey's favourite catchphrase appears to be "you haven't done very well", which is quickly amended when Mainwaring and his men pull off "the best bit of initiative I've seen in this whole war" for which he awards them the coveted 12-stars.

Fulton MacKay's character seemed to have come straight out of his Mr Mackey personae in Porridge (Fulton Mackay also appeared as a doctor in the episode " The Miser's Hoard " Edit U-Boat Captain ( Philip Madoc ) - Commander of the crew of a captured U-Boat , brings Mainwaring face to face with the Nazi enemy in " The Deadly Attachment ". A supercilious brute who is making a list of Britons who offend him to be brought to account "when we have won the war" which unsurprisingly get Mainwaring's gander up. He is also cunning, as when he tricks his captors by feigning illness. He presents Mainwaring with one of the platoon's most dangerous and deadly situations in the entire war, when he takes the entire platoon prisoner and plans to take them back to France with him, only to be foiled in the nick of time. Edit General Monteverdi ( Edward Evans ) -The senior Italian officer in a POW camp who tries to defend the scruffiness and general laziness of the Italian detainees. Serving in North Africa he was captured, apparently, because he refused to fight against the English.

Mainwaring clearly does not think much of him. It is revealed that Monteverdi is complicit in Walker’s scheme to smuggle prisoners out at nights to work for him. Edit Mrs. Prentice ( Brenda Cowling ) - An old friend of Godfrey, now in possession of her late husband's farm which needs harvesting. Mainwaring volunteers the platoon's services. In gratitude she organises supper and potato wine for the platoon which leads to some high spirits. A widow, having spurned him to marry a farmer, Godfrey hints at a more intimate moment when he tells her he hasn't touched potato wine "since that night". Edit Captain Rodrigues ( Alan Tilvern ) - A Spanish Civil War veteran who is only interested in 'killing Nazis'. He dislikes the platoon of 'amateurs' and thinks Mainwaring should go back to running a bank. He is portrayed as a vicious, unpleasant character. He appears closer to a bandit than a Captain in the British army. Edit Violet Gibbons ( Sally Douglas ) - An ATS girl to whom Pike is briefly engaged, much to Mainwaring's disapproval.

She had previously worked at Woolworths, a Fish and Chip Shop and for a while dated Private Walker. She appears at the platoon dance, where Pike announces their engagement. Looking bored and chewing gum she does not entirely appear to return Pike's unquestioning adoration and, much to everyone's relief, the engagement is quickly broken off. Edit E.C. Egan ( Fred Trueman )- A professional fast-bowler recruited by Hodges as an ARP Warden in an underhand attempt to win the friendly cricket match between the Wardens and the Home Guard. Egan reckons he can skittle Mainwaring's men out in about four overs. However he badly injures his shoulder after his first delivery and has to leave the field. In his absence, the Home Guard go on to win the match due to Hodges declaring early. In reality, Trueman played many matches for England. Edit Patrick Regan ( J.G. Devlin ) - A suspected member of the Irish Republican Army, the platoon are ordered to arrest him, but only a few are available. Trouble comes when his 'associates' come looking for him, leading to a brawl. Fortunately Wilson proves to be handy with his fists.

Edit Police Constable Arthur English - a Walmington police constable deputed to arrest Regan. He came alone, as the rest of his station were busy playing a darts match with the Free French. He warns that Regan may be an "ugly customer", but Mainwaring ignores his advice. Edit General Menzies ( Campbell Singer ) - Local commander. Visiting the platoon while Fraser is in temporary command in the episode If the Cap Fits... he mistakes him for Mainwaring. He invites his fellow Scot to a dress dinner to pipe in the haggis. Fraser hopes this will embarrass the English Mainwaring, but to everyone's shock Mainwaring had learned the bagpipes on his honeymoon, foiling Fraser's scheme. Edit Mr Palethorpe ( Jack Haig )- Landlord of the Six Bells just outside Walmington. When the platoon, dressed as Nazis for the production of a film, enter the bar and demand to be served he is convinced the balloon has gone up and triggers an invasion alert. Dads Army, review: Mainwarings men are back. And better than ever :: Jenkers Dads Army, review: Mainwarings men are back.

And better than ever Permission to speak, sir? Thank you. I bring you an urgent dispatch from the front line of British comedy. Unlike Lance-Corporal Jones, I will get straight to the point. This celebration ofDads Armysurpasses the original. Like facing up to the Nazi menace, it took courage for me to say that, such is my reverence for the original. I never thought I would live to see the day when anyone could better Arnold Ridleys sweet, bemused, bewildered Private Godfrey, but Michael Gambon has managed it. I read somewhere that Gambon has trouble remembering his lines these days. If so, this is the sort of role when such lapses may have dramatic benefit. Captain Mainwaring is still vain and pompous; Sergeant Wilson remains his diffident, quietly subversive self; Private Fraser still thinks were doomed; Private Walker is still selling nylons; and Jones, veteran of all those scrapes with the Kaisers army and the fuzzy wuzzies, who dont like it up em, you know, (its the cold steel), is still manfully resisting the urge to panic.

Scriptwriter Hamish McColl and director Oliver Parker made the very best of such an exceptionally strong cast including Gambon, with Toby Jones (Mainwaring), Tom Courtenay (Jones) and Bill Nighy (Wilson), especially living up to the challenge. Such a powerful line-up indeed that Sarah Lancashire, Alison Steadman and Bill Paterson have relatively minor roles. They say the actors had fun filming this and one can sense that. It is all as tasty and nostalgic as a slice of that upside-down cake that Godfreys sister Dolly used to bake. All the elements that made the original such a clever and durable and indeed lovable comedy are turned up for parade, present and correct: the wit, the subtle satires on our still mostly intact class system, and the knockabout (in just the right proportion). And most of all we cherish the finely drawn characters. The makers also reprised those famous end credits and the Who do you think you are kidding Mr Hitler? theme adds a fitting finale. It is sobering to ponder that the first editions of David Croft and Jimmy Perrys original and brilliant TV series were first broadcast, in black and white, by the BBC only about a quarter-century after Hitlers war had ended.

The cast, like todays, had almost all enjoyed a distinguished career in film and on stage and were well known faces, just as this lot are. There is something comforting in that familiarity, the catchphrases and the predictability of their tics and twitches. The last of the old series was made in 1977, and now we have this well-crafted reproduction, with added warmth from cameos by Ian Lavender (Pike) and Frank Williams (the vicar). Another nice link with the past. The original cast of Dad's Army Whereas in the originals the only romantic action was between Mavis Pike and Mr Wilson, and the eventide love that blossomed between Jones and the bosomy Mrs Fox I cant count Mr Mainwarings relationship with the unseen and fearsome Elizabeth we now have Pike, and a believably frisky Wilson, being pursued by femme fatale Catherine Zeta-Jones. We have Felicity Montagu, as an all-too-present Mrs W, and the womenfolk who won the war are rightly visible now.

So, shamelessly enough, I can advise long-standing devotees ofDads Armythat they need not panic, that the remake was, after all, awfully wise as Wilson might put it. Welcome back to Walmington-on-Sea. Carry on. Catherine Zeta-Jones just about maintained her modesty at the wet and windy Dad's Army premiere Catherine Zeta-Jones said filming the new movie version of TV classic comedy Dad’s Army reminded her how much she loves the UK. Her affection may not have extended to the British weather though as she struggled to hold down her dress and the cast huddled under umbrellas on a damp and blowy red carpet at the film’s world premiere in Leicester Square. Catherine tries to maintain her modesty on the windy red carpet (Vianney Le Caer/Invision/PA) The Welsh actress, 46, kept all eyes off the rain clouds in her low-cut teal dress as she joined co-stars Toby Jones, Sir Tom Courtenay and Sir Michael Gambon. Now based in Los Angeles with husband Michael Douglas and their two children, Catherine said filming it in England was like “coming home to a cup of Ovaltine”.

She said: “It was everything I hoped it to be, it was all these great actors, knew their lines, knew what they were doing. She raised temperatures with her flesh-flashing dress in its full glory (Ian West/PA) “We were laughing all the way through it and it just reminded me how much I love being in the UK to work and to be with British actors. “It’s nice to come home and this was like coming home to a cup of Ovaltine, nice and cosy.” The big screen version of the Second World War-set BBC sitcom, which ran from 1968-77, sees Catherine playing journalist Rose Winters, whose arrival in Walmington-on-Sea to report on Captain Mainwaring’s (Jones) Home Guard sets pulses racing and proves a distraction while the group try to smoke out a German spy in their midst. Sir Michael Gambon looked in high spirits despite the rain (Vianney Le Caer/Invision/PA) Suddenly the fate of the nation falls in the hands of the Home Guard played by an all-star British cast which also includes Bill Nighy as Sergeant Wilson, Bill Paterson as Frazer, Daniel Mays as Walker and Blake Harrison as Private Pike.

With a cast like that, Sir Michael says the set was full of laughter. “It was nothing but laughing and fooling around. I was mucking around with all of them,” he said. Stars Daniel Mays, Toby Jones, Sir Michael Gambon, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Blake Harrison, Sir Tom Courtenay and Bill Paterson posed inside (Ian West/PA) It was not too difficult for Sir Michael to get into character as he said he was just like gentle but doddery Private Godfrey, best remembered for perpetually nodding off and being excused for his weak bladder. He joked: “I’m like Godfrey, I’m always mooching around, I’m not doing anything right, I forget things. If someone says left, I turn right. I’m not very bright up here.” Filming felt like “coming home” for the last two surviving cast members of the original TV version too: Frank Williams revives his role as Reverend Timothy Farthing in the new film and Pike actor Ian Lavender has a cameo. Inbetweeners actor Blake Harrison plays Private Pike – who shares a kiss with Catherine!

(Ian West/PA) Frank said: “It takes me back to a very happy time in my life when I was doing Dad’s Army originally and as my scenes are in the church hall, it was very much like coming home again.” Ian admitted he was jealous of the new Pike, who not only has a girlfriend in the new film, but, he discovered, gets to share a kiss with Catherine. “Blake kept that one quiet from me! If they’d have put that in my script, I’d have done it for half the money,” he laughed. The fate of the country rests in the hands of the Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard (Universal Pictures/PA) All the cast acknowledged the risk involved in remaking such an well-loved show – which can still attract three million viewers for TV repeats – but hope it will introduce a new audience to the characters. “I think it’s so touching and heart warming it’ll inspire a whole new generation of lovers of Dad’s Army,” Catherine said. The film is out in UK cinemas on February 5.

Dad's Army review: 'permission to panic' Before seeing the new film version of Dads Army, I thought Jimmy Perry and David Crofts wartime sitcom just couldnt be adapted for the cinema in 2016. Afterwards, I left the cinema convinced it could work but whatever it was Id just seen hadnt. Its a cop-out to claim any source material is too "of its time" to make sense in the modern world, so lets not give the film that excuse. Perry and Crofts devious comedy of manners, and the claustrophobic, class-warfare-ridden laughs it elicited in great gales every week, certainly spoke directly to the late 1960s and 70s when it was broadcast. But the human foibles it exposed were universal. George Mainwaring, bank manager and captain of Walmington-on-Seas Home Guard, was a small man scrabbling around for his place in an uncertain world and was as excruciatingly recognisable as The Diary of a Nobodys George Pooter, or Peep Shows Mark Corrigan is today.

The fact his platoons humiliations came while, say, being chased around a field by a bull, as they did in the 1969 episode Operation Kilt, was just context for the broader joke. In the film, being chased by the bullisthe joke. It feels like a six-year-olds hazy memories of the show not the real, uproarious thing. The plot involves the arrival of a German spy in the seaside town, co-incidentally at exactly the same time as an attractive female journalist, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones. Its cute, and Perry and Croft could have steam-rollered through it in half an hour. Feeble double-entendres about sausages and roly-poly, a botched visual gag about inflatable tanks, tokenistic "girl power" moments when Walmington-on-Seas womens auxiliary army save the day: not a lot here is good. What convinced me that it might have worked, in a parallel universe, was the casting of one actor in particular. Dad's Army official trailerPlay!02:31 Replacing Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring would, of course, be impossible. So Toby Jones doesnt even try to.

Instead, he crafts a new character so familiar and sad and snowed under with pathos that his performance is fit to stand alongside Lowes own. Jones is one of our most gifted clowns, and whether hes answering the telephone with a broom handle through his sleeves, choking on a mouthful of Victoria sponge, or just squinting, theres a precision to his work thats instantly hilarious, and yawningly absent from the film at large. The rest of the cast, who include Bill Nighy as a very Bill Nighy-ish Sergeant Wilson, Tom Courtenay as Lance-Corporal Jones and Daniel Mays as Private Walker, are perfectly game, and largely well-picked. But theyre let down by the kind of puny script that cant tell funny and frantic apart, and sells a lengthy, obviously blue-screened sequence in which Jones is pulled up from a cliff-edge as a slapstick highlight. Anyone whos seen Blake Harrison dance in The Inbetweeners will be aware of his talent for physical comedy. But in the handful of scenes in which he gets to use it as Private Pike, the camera all but misses him: visually the film strives for a simpering, chocolate-box prettiness thats like a vaccination against comedy.

And bringing the previously unseen Mrs Mainwaring (Felicity Montagu) centre stage kills off a good running joke with no detectable benefit. References to the original series pop up often. Sometimes theyre pulled off cleverly: the famous title sequence, with arrows on a map, is recreated in a Nazi war-room. More ordinarily, theyre not. (In the third act, the cast simply rattle through the catchphrases they havent got round to saying yet). The director and writer, Oliver Parker and Hamish McColl, last collaborated on Johnny English Reborn, a bad comedy inspired by a credit card advert. Dads Army bleakly suggests that even the best source material in the world can only take you so far. Catherine Zeta-Jones: "Home to reality" after flirty filmPlay!02:00 Inside The Marriage Of Dick Van Dyke, 90, And His 44-Year-Old Wife, Arlene Jeff Goldblum &amp; Emilie Livingston Jeff Goldblum, 62, married Emilie Livingston, 32 last year and they're expecting their first child.

Getty image Joan Collins and Percy Gibson Joan Collins, 81, is 32 years older than Percy Gibson, her 5th husband. Getty Images image Donald Trump &amp; Melania Trump Trump, 68, is 23 years older than his latest wife Melania. Getty image Rod Stewart &amp; Penny Lancaster Rod Stewart, 70, is 26 years older than his wife. Getty image Sharon Stone &amp; Martin Mica Stone, 55, was 27 years older than her model boyfriend before they broke up in 2013 FameFlynet image Dick Van Dyke And Arlene Silver Dick Van Dyke, then 86, married his makeup artist, Arlene Silver, then 40, in March 2012 . Getty Images image Gregg Allman And Shannon Williams Gregg Allman, then 64, got engaged to Shannon Williams, 24, in May 2012, but they broke-up before getting married.

AP image Alec Baldwin And Hilaria Thomas Alec Baldwin, then 54, and Hilaria Thomas, then 28, got married in June 2012 On New Year's Day Hilaria revealed they're expecting a baby. Alamy image Eddie Murphy And Paige Butcher Eddie Murphy, 53, and Australian model Paige Butcher, 35, have been dating since 2012. AP image Kelsey Grammer And Kayte Walsh Kelsey Grammer, 59, has been married to Kayte Walsh, 34, since February 2011 . They had a baby last year. Alamy image Mary-Kate Olsen And Olivier Sarkozy Mary-Kate Olsen, 28, is currently dating Olivier Sarkozy, 45. Olivier is the half-brother of former French president Nicholas Sarkozy. There have been secret marriage rumours since last fall. WireImage image Stanley Tucci And Felicity Blunt Stanley Tucci, 54, married Felicity Blunt, 34, were married in August 2012 and are expecting their first child.

AP image Billy Joel And Alexis Roderick Billy Joel, 65, has been dating Alexis Roderick, 33, for several years. Getty Images image Bruce Willis And Emma Heming Bruce Willis, 59, married model Emma Heming, 36, in 2009. They had a second child together last year. AP image Hugh Jackman And Deborra-Lee Furness Hugh Jackman, 46, has been married to actress Deborra-Lee Furness, 59, since 1996. Alamy image Harrison Ford And Calista Flockhart Harrison Ford, 72, has been married to Calista Flockhart, 50, since 2010. Alamy image Clint Eastwood And Dina Ruiz Eastwood Clint Eastwood, 84, has been married to Dina Ruiz Eastwood, 49, since 1996. Getty Images image Catherine Zeta-Jones And Michael Douglas Michael Douglas, 70, married Catherine Zeta-Jones, 45 in 2000.

Alamy image Ellen DeGeneres And Portia de Rossi Ellen DeGeneres, 54, has been married to Portia de Rossi, 39, since 2008 . Alamy image Annette Bening And Warren Beatty Annette Bening, 54, has been married to Warren Beatty, 75, since 1992 . Shutterstock image Courtney Stodden And Doug Hutchison Courtney Stodden, 18, and Doug Hutchison, 52, were married two years ago .

Getty image Adrienne Maloof &amp; Sean Stewart Age difference: 19 years Pacific Coast News image Demi Moore &amp; Vito Schnabel Age difference: 24 years Getty image Amber Tamblyn &amp; David Cross Age difference: 19 years image Eddie Murphy &amp; Paige Butcher Age difference: 18 years Getty image Mary-Kate Olsen &amp; Olivier Sarkozy Age difference: 17 years Getty image Jennifer Lopez &amp; Casper Smart Age difference: 18 years Getty image Hugh Hefner &amp; Crystal Harris Age difference: 60 years Getty image Courtney Stodden &amp; Doug Hutchison Age difference: 35 years FameFlynet image AnnaLynne McCord &amp; Dominic Purcell Age difference: 18 years Getty image Calista Flockhart &amp; Harrison Ford Age difference: 22 years Getty image Annette Bening &amp; Warren Beatty Age difference: 21 years Getty image Tom Cruise &amp; Katie Holmes Age difference: 16 years Getty image Michael Douglas &amp; Catherine Zeta-Jones Age difference: 25 Years Getty image Alec Baldwin &amp; Hilaria Thomas Age difference:

 26 years Getty image George Clooney &amp; Stacy Keibler Age difference: 18 years Getty image Clint Eastwood &amp; Dina Ruiz Age difference: 35 years Getty image Kelsey Grammer &amp; Kayte Walsh Age difference: 25 years Getty image Bruce Willis &amp; Emma Heming Age difference: 24 years Getty image Celine Dion &amp; Ren Anglil Age difference: 26 years Getty image Jaston Statham &amp; Rosie Huntington-Whitely Age difference: 19 years Getty image Dick Van Dyke &amp; Arlene Silver Age difference: 46 years Getty image Marc Anthony &amp; Shannon De Lima Age difference: 18 years Getty image Julianne Moore and Bart Freundlich Age gap:9 years After her first marriage ended in divorce in 1995, Moore wasnt necessarily looking for another lifetime commitment.

The very next year, the 35-year-old actress met Bart Freundlich, then 26, on the set of The Myth of Fingerprints. You kind of think, 'Is this going to work out?' she says of their age difference. And then what happens is the relationship progresses and these things cease to be an issue anymore. The smoking-hot pair had two children Caleb and Liv before tying the knot in 2003. Today, the whole crew lives quietly in New Yorks West Village, where they can frequently be seen, happily hanging out. AP image Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon Age gap:11 years Shes been on both sides of a May-December relationship, and megastar Carey clearly prefers being the older woman. It all started in 1993, when the songstress, then 23, married her boss, 44-year-old music executive Tommy Mottola. The union lasted just five years, and the happily emancipated Carey remained single for almost a decade afterward. Then, out of nowhere in April 2008, she wed comedian Nick Cannon, 11 years her junior. Today, the unexpected couple is still going strong, raising toddler twins Moroccan and Monroe.

"We really do feel we are soulmates," Carey says. "I never felt a love like this was in the cards for me." Getty Images image Tina Turner and Erwin Bach Age gap:16 years R&amp;B icon Turner didnt seriously date anyone for years after divorcing Ike Turner, her notoriously abusive husband, in 1978. Then, mere months after the 1984 release of her comeback single, Whats Love Got to Do With It, she locked eyes with German music exec Erwin Bach at an industry party. The two remained inseparable for the next 28 years, until finally tying the knot in Switzerland in July of 2013. Turner, who donned a green-and-black taffeta gown for the event, said, "It's that happiness that people talk about. It's a wonderful place to be." AP image Robin Wright and Ben Foster Age gap:14 years Having been married to mercurial Oscar winner Sean Penn for more than 13 years, Robin Wright is used to unconventional relationships. Maybe thats why the House of Cards star is so smitten with X-Men actor Ben Foster.

The pair met on the set of 2011s Rampart, took to each other immediately, and look to be in it for the long haul; they confirmed their engagement to People magazine in January of 2014. Ben and I have a connection between us that just feels right, says Wright. I don't know any other word for it." Getty Images image Denzel Washington and Pauletta Pearson Age gap:4 years They met at a hotel restaurant in 1977, but it took actors Denzel and Pauletta Washington almost six years to become husband and wife. The reason: She rejected his marriage proposals twice, before finally caving on Try #3. Thirty-one years and four kids later, the twosome perseveres. And despite recent, dogged rumors of his infidelity, Denzel insists their bond is as strong as ever. "It's a marathon, he says, not a sprint. AP image Katie Couric and John Molner Age gap:7 years First things first: Did you know Katie Couric is 57? No, really. We were pretty surprised, too.

Now that thats taken care of, lets get down to business: The award-winning journalist is marrying banker John Molner, seven years her junior, this summer. Its Courics second marriage her first husband, Jay Monahan, died of colon cancer in 1998 but not her first May-December relationship. Ex-boyfriend Brooks Perlin was 17 years younger. AP image Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas Age gap:3 years The first thing he asked me was my age, says Griffith of her husband, Spanish star Banderas, whom she met filming 1995s movie flop Two Much. I said, That's the rudest thing anyone has asked me first. But there was something about him. The unlikely mates were both married she, to actor Don Johnson when they began dating. They obtained quick divorces, wed in May 1996, and had daughter Stella that same September. Eighteen years later, theyve weathered a few storms, including Griffiths bouts with addiction, but remain ever-dedicated. Says Banderas: We keep moving forward, and each day we become even more united. I still love my wife, and the concept of family is very important to us.

AP image Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness Age gap:13 years Long before coming to America, actors Jackman and Furness were a hot item Down Under. Australia's most famous power couple came together in 1995, while filming short-lived TV drama Corelli. The bond was immediate ("I had a massive crush on her instantly."), and he proposed just 3 1/2 months later. A wedding followed in 1996, son Oscar came along in 2000, and daughter Ava showed up five years after that. These days, the family travels back and forth between Sydney and New York City. "My success wouldnt have meant anything to me if I wouldnt have her and our kids," says Jackman. "Theyre the real center of my world." AP image Honorable Mention: Cher Cher didnt quite make our list, but it wasnt for lack of trying. Since 1975, Ms.

Sarkisian has dated at least 11 younger men, including Tom Cruise (16 years younger), Val Kilmer (14 years), KISS frontman Gene Simmons (4 years), Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora (13 years), and her most recent beau, biker Tim Medvetz (24 years). Lest you think shes a cougar, remember that the Oscar winners been on the other side of the equation, too. Her most famous partner, ex-husband Sonny Bono, was 11 years her senior. Getty Images image

Question: What is the forename of Captain Mainwaring's wife in the TV series Dad's Army?
Answer: Elizabeth